Finally, to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest, I request that the Office of Elections seek independent legal counsel apart from Attorney General David Louie, who was witnessed in person on election night at the campaign headquarters of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz. To ensure unbiased counsel through the remainder of this election, the Office of Elections should not continue to receive legal advice from Mr. Louie who may have the appearance of conflicting roles in advocating for a candidate on one hand, yet attempting to offer independent counsel to your agency on the other hand. If Mr. Louie was involved or consulted for the decision to schedule the election on Friday August 15, 2014, I request that the Office of Elections revisit this decision along with independent counsel.

9 Responses to “`Revisit'”

She shoulda' just shaddap. Think once Puna residents get wind (pardon the pun) of this, they -- hippies and in-weed-we-trust'ers they are, will resent HanaBuBa's "retarded process to retard the political process, man!!!! [puff, puff] they will resent HanaBuBa and, admittedly, vote for the candidate who looks more like them.

Her measly argument here can "all fall down" if it's discovered that Attorney General staffers were at HER post-vote party that night (yeah. They could've been the very ones who might've told HanaBuSa, "why, you know what you should do? Next week, hol' press conference, say out boss stay at Schatz's . . ." You get the picture. She a lawyer too, so, not out of the question that such staffers were there. Heck. We can almost assume it. With her admonishing "rubber stamp politics" and she expecting to have automatically be appointed to Senator Inouye's seat when he passed on, with this recent "sue" move of hers, you might be able to bold "hypocrite" on her resumé soon enough.

I wouldn't be so proud to have an Augie T. (Who was seen at HER gathering on election primary night)Not sure why that guy think's he's so funny. What's with his hairline.

Going be hilarious when she lose. Let the people vote expeditiously, lady.

The Hanabusa campaign has two goals with the Puna elections. 1) They want to have an opportunity to launch a targeted effort to increase the turnout and win over enough of those voters to make a victory by her a mathematical possibility. If enough voters understand how much power they have relative to a normal election, if she can parachute in campaign workers, if enough phones can be working, then MAYBE she can use the unique circumstances of this tiny election to overturn the decision of the rest of the state. This is a stretch, but for it to have any chance, the vote has to be delayed for as long as possible.

2) She wants to taint the result of the election, just as she tried to taint Schatz's original appointment. If she can insinuate the process is unfair for her and "the disenfranchised Puna voters," she puts a cloud over Schatz's legitimacy as a senator, helping her should she choose to run against him again in two years. After all, he IS sitting in her seat. Senator Inouye had wanted HER to have that seat, not Brian. If she has to smear the Office of Elections to accomplish this, they are an easy target.

Had the hurricane not come along, the turnout in those two precincts would have comparable to that of their neighbors and Hanabusa would have lost by 5-10%. She is hoping to game this situation to overturn the judgment of the rest of the state. I do not think the Office of Elections is obliged to stretch this out for 21 days to allow her to take her best shot.

Should she lose on Friday, she is at the point where she should try to salvage her image. Because she is at the point where she is starting to look like a whining, sore loser, unwilling to accept that the voters do not support her dream of being Inouye's successor. It is only by a small margin. But that is the nature of elections. And a good sport accepts that. A whining, self-centered sore loser does not. Which is she? That is in her hands.

greasy chicken - you are full of nonsense. hanabusa is totally and absolutely correct. Louie the AG who never is, was seen on tv at shtaz's HQ. so his biased opinion is not wanted. and he was so dumb in allowing the results of the senate race to be released when all the votes were not cast. he also is dumb to insist that the election be done this Friday, when the people are still recovering. they have 21 days to complete the vote, why the rush? further, the governor can suspend the law if they are unable to complete the process in 21 days. which is more important, the lives and welfare of the devastated people in puna or the results of an election? further, the governor is no place to be seen. as a governor he should have immediately taken a trip to the big island surveyed and assessed the damages and taken immediate action to ask help form FEMA. since he knows the president personally (shatz claims this too), but none of them had asked for FEMAs active help. this show that these two are totally lacking in all common sense, make it "three" including louie. FEMA can provide immediate assistance in help with supplies, loans to help the residents recover and rebuild. their actions only show that they want to complete the election process and have no real desire to help the puna residents. this kind of thinking is absolute stupidity, just like you.

innocent observer:
August 13th, 2014 at 8:32 am
greasy chicken - you are full of nonsense. hanabusa is totally and absolutely correct. Louie the AG who never is, was seen on tv at shtaz's HQ.

You're always wrong, i.o. You who think "state senate president" is better than outright being U.S. Senator, heh; how's the Hyundai running nowadays, by the way?

With this situation, we are beginning to see that, more than any other official (maybe except for the gov'nor himself) if a natural disaster hits, the head of the office of elections usually has more leverage to direct how voting will go. With support from the A.G.'s office? That's solid.

This is politics. Seems the-powers-that-be want Schatz in. And HanaBuSa needs to start dealing with this.

You REALLY don't think think HanaBuSa's lawyers AREN'T telling her, "d'is going be one difficult challenge to how d'ey like run d'is Puna election"? Yeah? Then, maybe you should change your name to "naive observer" (which is how a Grease sees you anyway).

By the way, i.o.; writing instructors can use the following alone (if they can't manage to get through the entirety of your gibberish) as an example of bad writing:

innocent observer:
August 13th, 2014 at 8:32 am
he also is dumb to insist that the election be done this Friday, when the people are still recovering. they have 21 days to complete the vote, why the rush? further, the governor can suspend the law if they are unable to complete the process in 21 days. which is more important, the lives and welfare of the devastated people in puna or the results of an election? further, the governor is no place to be seen. as a governor he should have immediately taken a trip to the big island surveyed and assessed the damages and taken immediate action to ask help form FEMA. since he knows the president personally (shatz claims this too), but none of them had asked for FEMAs active help.

"he is this" "he is that"; run-on sentences; no capitalization. "FEMAs" instead of "FEMA's." Your citation of "Puna" not capitalized — yeah, based on that, shows much YOU care for the area. Duh.

greasy chicken - got you now, cannot attack the message you attack the messenger. that is okay, I am smarter than you are, any day, any time. your rants are totally nonsensical just like your name. should be changed to stinky chicken.

kolea, you denigrate hanabusa for strategizing, but don't you believe that the shatz/Abercrombie/louie are also is doing the same? why the quick turn-about in the decision to hold the election this Friday, when they had initially made the decision do complete the vote by mail. there needs to be balance, so I will do the same kind of comments against the shatz/Abercrombie/louie coalition. further, in many close races all across the nation, the underdog always contests the results - this is perfectly normal and not whining. had the situation been reversed, do you seriously believe shatz would not have filed some kind of challenge? Oh maybe not, he might do the same as Abercrombie, go home and cry because the voters had rejected him.

While I don't disagree with Kolea, I'm wondering what provisions are being made for those who can't vote in person on Friday. E.g., someone who had made previous plans to be out of town, or someone who works a 12-hour shift (after all, while Friday may be a state and county holiday, a lot of people don't work for the state or county), or someone who works an 8-hour shift in Kona. These are folks that might normally have requested an absentee ballot had they known the election would be this Friday, and whose inability to vote in person isn't affected by whether or not the roads are cleared by then.

I don't know if your refusal to capitalize makes your posts more annoying or not. But you have become unhinged. I pointed out Hanabusa's strategic considerations, openly, so people could talk about them honestly, transparently, rather than pretend this is all about "fairness" and "the right of Puna residents to vote." I did not "denigrate" her for having her own needs. I just am pointing out her needs are not identical with either those of the Puna residents or of what constitutes a fair election.

Nor did I call her a sore loser or a whiner. I said the time is fast approaching when it is in her hands which role she wants to play. After the votes are tallied on Saturday, she will have an opportunity to challenge the results, But the burden falls upon her to present a credible case that the election outcome would have been different had the Puna elections been conducted in a different way than this Friday voting plan.

Regardless of whether Louie was seen at Schatz's HQ on election night or not, your attempt to impugn the integrity of his legal opinion does not wash away the language of HRS. You cannot merely substitute your prejudices for his analysis. Feel free to offer an alternative to what you think he told the Office of Elections. But ground it in law and precedent, not wishful thinking that Colleen can somehow salvage her campaign.

in your rage you opine that the AG "was so dumb in allowing the results of the senate race to be released when all the votes were not cast." Really? Have you read the statute? Do you think the AG or the Chief Elections Officer had any discretion over whether the results were released? Read the frickin' law. It is unambiguous.

If you want to change the law, have at it next session. But meanwhile, you have just demonstrated you have no credibility in opining on either the AG's views, the conduct of the Office of Elections or how to read election law.

kolea - the law states that it results can be released, hence it was not mandatory, better decision making to preserve the integrity of the voting process should have prevailed. believe my opinions are creditable and reasonable, why in the hell the law states that election results are not to be released (mandatory) until all votes are cast? the reason for this requirement is to preserve the integrity of the voting process - no one should know how other voters voted. the exception in emergency conditions are allows the results to be released, not mandatory; so if they were thinking correctly instead of making snap decisions they would have done the right thing, not to release the election results prematurely. I have the right to opine - freedom of speech, if you and they don't like it, that is okay, but I truly feel that they are not doing in the best interest of the people only in regards to their chosen candidate.

You did call hanabusa a sore loser and whiner even if you phased it in the future - by implication. Why phrase it in those terms it you did not mean it? my point is that you can impugn the character of hanabusa but when others do the same to your "boys" you get all bent out of shape. Sorry but that is my opinion.

"...provided that any such postponement shall not affect the conduct of the election, tabulation, or distribution of results for those precincts, districts, or counties not designated for postponement."

Contrary to you opinion, it is clear the law does not "allow" the CEO to release the results, it mandates the release of the data.

As I said, you have demonstrated you are not qualified to "opine" on the AG's opinion, nor the behavior of the Office of Elections in implementing Hawaii's election laws.

From the rest of your comment, it is obvious you do not only misunderstand the law, you have difficulty with basic logic. I clearly said IF Hanabusa refuses to accede to the will of the voters after the Friday votes are tabulated, then it is appropriate to talk about her being a sore loser and a whiner. I said the decision is in her hands. I can assure you, if she graciously concedes defat, I will not call her either such term. For you to so badly misread what I have written here suggests you don't even understand the difference between present tense and future tense. Or "future conditional tense" to get even more precise.

I once thought you were worth talking with. Was my memory incorrect or have your mental abilities deteriorated under the pressure of the election season. Because today, you are talking gibberish.

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